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Marco Rubio vs. Right-wing bloggers

By Dylan Byers

04/17/13 01:23 PM EDT

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio is pushing back against right-wing media bloggers for promoting a "myth" about a provision in the immigration bill that would give people near the Mexican border access to cell phones.

In a recent post -- which has been picked up by Bretibart.com, blogger Michelle Malkin, and now Drudge Report -- SharkTank's Javier Manjarres claims the provision would grant taxpayer-funded cell phones "to immigrants who are allowed to enter the United States under a work visa." Critics have dubbed this the "MarcoPhone" provision.

But Rubio says the provision, which was also included in the 2011 “Border Security Enforcement Act," would give phones to residents and business owners who live near the Mexican border in order for them to report border violence to state and federal officials.

"It's not for the illegal immigrants. It's for U.S. citizens and residents who live in the border region so that they can have access to calls," Rubio told conservative radio host Laura Ingraham in an interview on Wednesday.

Rubio's office then sent out a press release in which it said that the claim being made by Manjarres, Boyle and Malkin was a "myth."

"Touchy, touchy," Malkin wrote on Twitter in response to the press release.

UPDATE (1:29 p.m.): A few readers note that other conservative bloggers are pushing back against the Shark Tank report. Conservative Inelligence Briefing offers this. Below, several tweets provided by John Ekdahl, Jr.: